Features

• Could be business as usual with Intel's new CEO

  With Intel's new CEO ready to step up next month to lead the world's largest chip maker, industry analysts don't expect to see any big change in strategy.

• Mac sales growth stalls -- here's why Apple doesn't care

  Apple's Mac has been punished by shifting consumer tastes just as has the overall PC industry, data from the company's earnings statements show.

• With Intel's Otellini out next month, no CEO replacement yet

  Just a month before Paul Otellini steps down as CEO of Intel, the company does not yet have a replacement.

• Oracle takes apparent step toward standardizing on a single chip design

  Oracle's unveiling of a batch of servers based on new Sparc processors marked what some analysts think is a step toward an expected standardizing of the vendor's two families of Unix servers onto a single chip architecture.

• The pros and cons of an Apple-Intel divorce

  There's no need for an OS X-iOS merger, but Apple could ditch Intel in its Macs -- or adopt Intel in the iPhone and iPad

• The pros and cons of an Apple-Intel divorce

  There's no need for an OS X-iOS merger, but Apple could ditch Intel in its Macs -- or adopt Intel in the iPhone and iPad

• AMD passing on phones, focusing on tablets and hybrids

  The PC market may be taking a beating but chip maker Advanced Micro Devices is has no plans to move toward the hot new market: smartphones.

• The 2012 holiday gift guide

  Sure, tablets and HDTVs are always welcome gifts, but that's not all our readers want to give and get this year.

• Europe looks to ARM chips for supercomputing edge

  The European Union is moving to build a high-performance computing industry to challenge U.S. dominance, but it doesn't want to play catch-up. It wants to leapfrog, and it is seeing whether ARM Holdings technology can give it that edge.

• After a tough year, Intel and HP push ahead on Itanium

  It has been a rough stretch for Itanium. HP and its customers were startled after Oracle abruptly announced its intent to discontinue software development on HP's Itanium servers. But neither HP nor Intel has backed away from Itanium, and last week's announcements appear to affirm that.

• Samsung laying groundwork for server chips, analysts say

  Samsung's recent licensing of 64-bit processor designs from ARM suggests that the chip maker may expand from smartphones and tablets into the server market, analysts said this week.

• Intel working on 48-core chip for smartphones, tablets

  Intel researchers are working on a 48-core processor for smartphones and tablets but it could be five to 10 years before it hits the market.

• Autonomous cars will arrive within 10 years, Intel CTO says

  Intel CTO Justin Rattner predicts that driverless cars will be available within 10 years and that buyers by then will increasingly be more interested in a vehicle's internal technology than the quality of its engine.

• What smartphones will be like in 2012

  Since the advent of the first modern smartphone--arguably the original Apple iPhone in 2007--the power of these mobile computing devices that also happen to make phone calls has advanced by leaps and bounds.

• Display tech to watch this year: Haptics create a buzz

  If multitouch display technology is proliferating, haptic feedback is helping to fuel the trend. Haptics provide tactile feedback to your fingers as you touch a display by vibrating all or part of the display surface.